On my drive to Newburyport, I got a text from my friend on a whale watching boat from Rye saying she had seen a Sperm Whale on their morning trip! Holy Moly! That is the rare of the rare around here! I have only seen a sperm whale in this area once, way back in 1996. I was excited to get out there and search for it but at the same time knew it would be very rare to relocate it as this is not the prime habitat for such a whale, and these whales stay submerged for 20+ minutes at a time.
Excitedly, we headed out...and found a pod of Atlantic white sided dolphins. These "little toothed whales" are great to see but we were on a mission to find a larger toothed whale.
We saw a few blows in the distance and came upon a group of 3 fin whales! These whales have always amazed me and even after 15 years of watching them, I always see each sighting as a chance to learn more about this huge animal since not much is known about the. The 3 fin whales were all moving together and coordinating their dive times. So cool to see 2 of the 3 dive down simultaneously!
Then we got the call....our friends from Rye found a sperm whale...and now there were two and possibly three in the area!!! We headed over but still realistic about the sightings...sperm whales dive for 20+ minutes at a time and we were running short on time. We were hoping for a distant look at best.We saw a blow...it was tall and narrow...another fin whale. Then another blow- short and bushy, and leaning to one side...this was our target! We cruised on over, careful not to approach too fast, not wanting to spook this rare visitor. The sperm whale was oh-so cooperative! It stayed at the surface for several minutes, allowing us to approach it and get some good looks before it dove, showing us a bit of its flukes. We waited and waited...15 minutes later, it surfaced again, this time fairly close by!
Watching this huge ~60 whale (with teeth!!) along side the boat was truly amazing and remarkable. I know the captain and I both told you all how rare this is, and I can only hope you realize what you were fortunate enough to witness! Sperm whales in the Atlantic are normally found 200+miles off shore. Today we were 23 miles off shore....Why this whale, and a couple of its friends were in this area, we may never know. Sperm whales typically inhabit deep water (more than a mile deep) and feed on giant squid found at those depths. They have been known to eat squid (not all giant squid) that are common around here, but still...this was an amazing day with a completely unusual and unexpected sighting!Then....on our way home....we found a basking shark. But not just any basking shark. This one was breaching! So cool! We see basking sharks on about 3-4% of our trips on average, but to see on jumping out of the water is rare! And it breached over and over! I was really excited about this...until we left the shark and I had a moment to look at my photos. This shark was entangled and that was likely the reason it was breaching. It appears that is has a section of gill-netting in its mouth. Luckily, this shark managed to break free from the net, and after talking with an expert from the Provincetown Center for Coastal Studies (who disentangles large whales and sea turtles regularly), we are hopeful that the shark will be able to shed the netting on its own.
Certainly an emotional day for all of us today! I really want to thank all of you who joined us for your patience and enthusiasm during the entire trip! And a special thanks to those who generously contributed to our research and conservation fund!
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